DD Date 1983.12.30

December 30, 2011

Well, this ends three months of weekly diary entries to try to make some sense out of life after the "unthinkable" has happened. It is a wonder that civilization here in the USA has not collapsed. Of course, it may have outside of our immediate area. As far as I know there have been no expeditions beyond short ones across the state lines to Georgia and North Carolina, and no one has received any messages from further away.

So, while I still have some notebook paper, I guess I will write what I remember of the "last year of the United States of America." I don't follow world events too much, so this will be somewhat short.

Back in January, President Reagan surprised many when he nominated a woman from North Carolina, Elizabeth Dole, to oversee the Department of Transportation. She is the second wife of Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. We got a preview of "hard times" to come when the Independent Truckers Association went on strike in response to the federal tax on fuel going up. Some stuff got scarce for about two weeks. The trucks stopped running three months ago and we are learning that the shelves don't restock themselves!

February saw the first of a bunch of Democrats after Reagan's job in 1984. In all I think seven -- including Fritz Hollings! -- had declared their intent by the end of September. Personally, I think American hero, now Senator, John Glenn is the best among them all. We can assume president Reagan was waiting to announce his intentions sometime this winter. I don't think there is any question that he will be the candidate -- if there is an election next year and he is even alive. It's hard not knowing what's happening around the world! Bringing a 'light note' to a bad situation (the Korean War), the television show M*A*S*H ended a series that lasted three times as long as the war it portrayed. -- I missed that show but caught it on the summer reruns!

Spring time saw more conservatives in high places -- Germany elected Kohl and in England Margaret Thatcher got re-elected. It was looking good for us conservatives. Reagan has been talking tough against the remaining Communists out there and I think we may have been winning that ideological battle before what I guess is World War III -- still no draft or anything -- began. I think the "new enemy" we were facing was a religious one in Israel and surrounding countries. The Muslim fighters don't hesitate to kill others by killing themselves. They showed the world that the US was their enemy by blowing up the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon!

In America, though, the Supreme Court made what could be a "liberal" decision concerning what would seem to be a freedom of assembly issue -- against Bob Jones University! Back when I was there I let it be known that I thought some of their policies didn't go along with my interpretation of the Bible. One of the things I disagreed with was their stand on 'inter-racial' dating. Heck, I had a great 'preacher boy' in a group that I ministered with that was from the Caribbean that was of 'mixed race' heritage. Anyway, the school would not change this on threat of 'losing' its tax exempt status. Well, its seems that the IRS can trump the constitution! The school lost its exemption. From now on, any contributions to the school cannot be counted as deductions.

The Summer saw more terrorism - hijackings and bombings - around the world. From the Mideast, to South Africa, to the Pacific, things started going bad. I don't understand how people can be so deranged as to kill themselves to make a political point. Assassinations at least make sense - going back to ancient Rome and beyond - but suicide bombs are insane! There was a major assassination, in fact, in the Phillipines -- Aquino, I think, sometimes this past summer. Anyway, the summer ended with the mess between the US and Russia - first the downing of that Korean jet with Americans on it -- a congressman from Georgia being one of them -- on September first. I'm sure that probably had something to do with the beginning of the war that perhaps has destroyed this country. And then, three weeks later we get the world as we NOW know it!

The fall months were a time of getting used to the weirdness of life without the pleasantries of the twentieth century - at home anyway. I am sure that the emergency generators in use won't last much longer either. According to the authorities - as posted on bulletin boards and spoken in town meetings - the nuclear power plant is a long way from being fixed. Other power alternatives - such as the coal powered facility in Pelzer, are closer to being on line, but the EMPs that wiped out electronics all over the place mean that re-wiring and re-engineering will take quite some time.

And so, there it is, what I remember about this year. I'm sure it won't be part of any history archives anyway, but it helps me put things in perspective as I look forward to a new year coming up this weekend. I will be working, of course, and probably won't actually 'celebrate' 1984 -- the year of "Big Brother"! getting here. Ironically, I suppose, the computers that were predicted to usher in that socialist era have been largely silenced. Wow. I wonder if that means we win after all.

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